Sunday, December 27, 2009

Hands down, the most active family members in our children's lives, are my grandparents. They've given so much love and support, that it often overwhelms me. Eleanore is constantly getting letters in the mail, just little notes reminding her how special she is, and books and clothes are always arriving at our door for reasons none other than "we love you". The love that they give us warms my heart.

A few weeks ago, I noticed an email in my inbox, with the subject line "Lets make this short: Can we come visit?". I nearly fell out of my seat. YES! Yes you can come visit!

Eleanore would finally get to meet the face behind all of the handwritten cards that she had gotten. We counted down the days.

On Thursday night, on the 17th, after the kids were in bed and Christopher was relaxing on the couch watching some football, I headed off for the airport to greet them with hugs and candy canes. They looked, great.

We spent the next 3 days going through memories, filling plates with turkey and stuffing, nibbling peppermint bark and rum balls, filling our glasses with nog, and enjoying our time together. Watching my Grammy play in my daughters pretend kitchen with her brought back so many memories of my own childhood, when she would play with me. It was wonderful.

They colored. They baked cookies for Santa. They read stories.

Charlie is going through a phase where he doesn't want to be touched by anybody other than me or Christopher, so they spent a lot of time playing peek a boo with him from a distance. There weren't many opportunities for photos when it came to the little grump. Not unless we wanted a picture of him screaming, haha.

We took them to the air park while they were here. It was sunny and warm, but windy. Grammy and I hid our hair behind the hoods of our jackets, the boys talked air planes, Eleanore ran around in the open space, and Charlie screamed. He screamed a lot.

Right before they left, we took another trip to the North Pole. Charlie needed to meet Santa! Eleanore rode in their car with them, while Charlie slept in the backseat of ours, and when we arrived there, the heartbreak of knowing that they'd be leaving in just a few short minutes settled in. Before we said our final goodbyes, we asked a nice couple who was waiting in line, to take our picture. And it turned out just perfect...

All of Will's family is in the UK. His mom comes and visits once or twice a year, but boy oh boy do my girls miss her and their uncle and auntie and all of our British friends... its always such a wonderful feeling when they come to visit!

what a wonderful post Tia... and a wonderful Christmas surprise too. I so wish I still had grandparents :( I still remember the last time I was in Switzerland and had to say goodbye to my Granny... I knew it would be the last time I saw her... broke my heart. Enjoy the time you can with them... its very nice that they are so active in the kids lives too... you are blessed :)